Home

Saturday, 31 August 2013

Good Morning bloggers, it's Saturday morning so It's time for a new challenge today at Allsorts.
This week is our lovely Brenda's turn to host and she would like to see 'It's All In The Message'
Here is what I did, I used a computer generated sentiment, it's my motto I use at Weight Watchers but without Life Has at the beginning, and decided to use a shaped card. Not an easy card for me, no colouring or central image. The flowers were a win from Mulberry crafts and are so pretty.
Don't forget to head over to Allsorts for all the details of this challenge, and to check out all the fabulous inspiration from my very talented team mates.

Here are the prizes on offer:-

Nicecrane Designs offer a huge range of
high quality Vintage inspired design sheets and images to create and compliment
all your crafting projects. They are offering this weeks lucky winner a $20
voucher to spend at their on line store.

Monday, 26 August 2013

Hello, it's Bank Holiday Monday. I hope you’re all OK and have had a lovely weekend and having a good Bank Holiday too.
It is time for another theme over on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, this time it was our lovely Dorte's turn to choose the theme and she chose "Transport" - Use something on your creation that has some kind of mode of transport on it. I decided to use PR1024 Beary Big delivery, and make my first Christmas card. Well we all need to start somewhere.
Of course you must use aHouse Mouse,Happy Hopper or Gruffie to join in.

We are sponsored by

$25 Gift certificate

And

£10 gift voucher

Thanks for looking, the DT have all made gorgeous cards for your inspiration so hop on over to the HM&F Monday Challenge to see them.

Today I am showing you this tutorial that I have done for the Joanna Sheen Challenge blog, now I know many of you may already know how to make these lace rosettes, but I do know there are new crafters coming to blogland all the time, and might want to make something a little different to embellish their creations.

Here is what you need:-
Needle and Thread
Buttons
Lace - the wider lace is 24" long and the narrower lace is 16" long

Thread your needle and knot your thread, then start threading along the top of the lace.

Get to the end of your lace and pull the thread to gather up the lace, then tie it off.

I always tidy up the cut edges by stitching them together, this is optional as you can hide it underneath each other.

It should look like this, insert the hoop on the back of the button through the centre and stitch through to attach. The wider the lace the bigger the rosette, but they are all made in the same way, this is how I used my Rosette:-
On a card made using the Shirley Barber Project Book from Joanna Sheen

Hope this has given you an idea for an embellishment to use.
Happy crafting
Tracy x

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Good morning my blogging friends.
Today is a Sunday and so it's time for a brand new challenge over at theJoanna Sheen Challenge. The theme this time is "Pretty In Pink". And I have used the Shirley Barber project book, it's absolutely gorgeous and you can find it here, from Joanna Sheen.

The Rosette I made for this card will be in a tutorial that will be posted tomorrow, both here and on the Joanna Sheen challenge blog.

There is a £15 gift voucher up for grabs to the random lucky winner so why not come and join us!

And the rest of the team have made some fabulous creations, please do pay them a visit too.

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Good Morning bloggers, it's Saturday morning so It's time for a new challenge today at Allsorts.
This week is our lovely Helene's turn to host and she would like to see 'Acetate'
I decided to do a candle in a gift box, and used acetate for the windows of the gift box. I used a Sarah Kay image and I think he's my favourite Santa and one that comes out every year.
Don't forget to head over to Allsorts for all the details of this challenge, and to check out all the fabulous inspiration from my very talented team mates.

Here are the prizes on offer:-

Winners
choice of three pack of die cuts

from

and

4
images of winners choice

from

Mt daughter Jodie got her exam results on Thursday, she was worried about them, but I knew she had nothing to worry about:-

Maths - B

English - B

History - B

Science - C

ICT - Distinction

So now in year 11 she is going a bit further on her English to get an A*
and can take up a new subject which she has decided to take RE, now this subject
is so different to what it was when I was at school. I couldn't believe the
subjects it covers, arranged marriages, abortion, war etc.......

Monday, 19 August 2013

Hello, it's Monday again, it comes round so quickly. I hope you’re all OK and have had a lovely weekend.
It is time for me to remind you of the theme over on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, this time it was our lovely Christine's turn to choose the theme and she chose "Liquid Refreshment" - Use something on your creation that has any kind of drink on it. I used "Quiet Evening With Friends" HMTR1046, with my gorgeous Nitwit Country Gent papers. There's a fair bit of colouring to do but loved doing it.
Of course you must use a House Mouse, Happy Hopper orGruffie to join in.

Sunday, 18 August 2013

This is my Midway reminder challenge creation for Penny black & More @ Allsorts, where the theme is "In The Garden" So you can use flower stamps, or anything to do with the garden for this challenge. I used this cute Hedgehog sat on the flower pot with the snail. Now I have wanted to add to my dies for some time, I don't have a lot and one that I have been after is a Fence die, still don't have one and really wanted to put a fence on this card. So I thought about it and had a go at making a fence myself, and I'm quite pleased at how it turned out. I used a fair bit of Frayed Burlap Distress Ink on my fence and papers. It's funny but I have Vintage Photo but use Frayed Burlap and Brushed Corduroy more, I find them a bit more subtle, and sometime Vintage Photo a bit strong.

We have prizes from Penny Black, Crafts U Love and Classy Crafts. Now isn't that a lot of prizes, definitely worth getting your animal stamps out isn't it!!!!!!

Now if you would like to be a GDT for us, all you need to do is make a creation to fit the theme following our rules.
Are you wanting some inspiration, pop on over to the challenge blog and then you can see all the wonderful creations from the rest of the talented team.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Good Morning bloggers, it's Saturday morning so It's time for a new challenge today at Allsorts.
This week is our lovely Jo's turn to host and she would like to see you 'Use Your Latest Craft Buy'.
Here is what I did, my daughter asked me to make her a box to put her bits and bobs in at the side of her bed. She likes things a bit different, she's a bit Gothic/Emo (Although I get into trouble for stereo typing her). She loves this box, my latest crafty buys that I bought to do this box are:-Lacy Sunshine ImageDusty Concord Distress InksLOTV Music Note Stamp.
Well it's fair to say I had real inky fingers after this, purple. I didn't have an appropriate purple patterned paper and lilac just won't cut it with her, so I made my own. I used some Punchenello (sequin waste, can you tell I worked in a haberdashery wholesalers using the correct terminology), and inked through it around the corners and edges. Added some stamped corners and then the music note stamp in the middle. I also used some black Broderie Anglaise and satin ribbon around the rim of the lid. Used a spellbinders die from the Poinsettia set to make some black flowers and flower punches.

Don't forget to head over toAllsorts for all the details of this challenge, and to check out all the fabulous inspiration from my very talented team mates.

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

I just had to share this, I know some of you may find me strange but I adore mice, I'm not allowed to have one in the house, so I settle for my House Mouse stamps. And the more whimsical they become the more I love them. I have them on my cup, plant pots, and quite a few other things with them on.

One day Bobby brought this little mouse in from the garden. Bless him he had rescued it from our Cat, Baby. Little Monkey scared his sister half to death with it though. He did want to keep it, and I nearly let him but instead we found a safe place to release it. What will he bring home next I ask you???

Don't think he'll bring one of these home, I hope not anyway, he held a Kestrel on Sunday while we was at Whitby, he has also held an African White Faced Owl too. He is just like his Mum, he adores animals, well he's is more of an obsession. His ultimate dream is to stroke a Lion.

Monday, 12 August 2013

Hello, it's Monday again, it comes round so quickly. I hope you’re all OK and have had a lovely weekend.
It is time for another theme over on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, this time it was our lovely Christine's turn to choose the theme and she chose "Liquid Refreshment" - Use something on your creation that has any kind of drink on it. I used "Spa time" HMKR1011, with my gorgeous Nitwit Country lady papers. And I always enjoy colouring this image, and it's my favourite drink too, a nice cup of tea.
Of course you must use a House Mouse, Happy Hopper orGruffie to join in.

Saturday, 10 August 2013

Good Morning bloggers, it's Saturday morning so It's time for a new challenge today at Allsorts.
This week is our lovely Catherine's turn to host and she would like to see 'Stitching real/faux'
Here is what I did, I used a Passion For stamps digi image called "The Scarecrow", and decided to make a door hanger for my cousin, he is just returning to Pittsburgh US, and has set up home with his Girlfriend. It is a wooden Hanger and had something wrote on it about the kitchen, so I altered it completely and everything I added apart from the silver heart. I used stazon to stamp Welcome at the top. I don't really like scarecrows but when I saw this one I thought he was kinda sweet. My stsiching is Faux around my image.
Don't forget to head over to Allsorts for all the details of this challenge, and to check out all the fabulous inspiration from my very talented team mates.

Here are the prizes on offer:-

4 images of winners choice

A Passion for Stamps offers
a wide range of images designed by Ruth Hamilton. As the name of her store and
blog suggests Ruth has a particular love of flowers and her designs have can
also be purchased as rubber stamps, punches and dies all sold under the Tonic
Studios name.

Crafty Devils are one of the
UK’s leading paper craft specialists with over 10,000 card making, scrapbooking,
stamping and die cutting products on line. We aim to bring
you the latest high quality products from all over the
world, supplying quality branded products including Spellbinders, Marianne
Designs, Molly Blooms, Tim Holtz, Ranger, Docrafts, Papermania, Promarkers, plus
lots more at the lowest prices around and FREE postage to all UK postcodes for
orders over £12.

Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Good Morning, hope the weather is dry and still nice and sunny for you, It's hard to get as much done as I'd like to with the school holidays. Although I did go last night and get the biggest part of the school uniforms. Friday I think we are going to the Leeds City Museum, my youngest son is looking forward to that as they have a whole floor dedicated to stuffed animals, there's everything from Tigers, Polar Bears to even a Panda. Although I'm not sure what his reaction will be when he realises they are actually dead animals, he's so infatuated by animals and has toy ones (in the hundreds) all over the house and plays with them constantly. Then there's a Mummy from Egypt, which I think he'll be OK with.

Now onto my candle, I decided to do a Christmas one using this LOTV stamp, I love this one although it was quite fiddly colouring it on tissue paper. I glittered it too and added some glittered snowflakes.

The flower is made using the Poinsettia Spellbinders die.

Here is the Christmas sentiment I put on the back of the candle.

I also made a gift box for the candle, I die cut an oval to the front and to the back and added an acetate window. Also added the same die cut Poinsettia to the gift box.

Here's the back of the gift box, showing the sentiment through the acetate window.
I loved making this candle, and not quite as hard as I originally thought. There will definitely be some made for gifts this year, in some everyday designs too.

Monday, 5 August 2013

Hello, it's Monday again, it comes around so quickly. I hope you’re all OK and have had a lovely weekend.
It is time for me to remind you of the theme over on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, this time it was Our lovely America's turn to choose the theme and she chose "Heat Embossing" - For mine I stamped some Lilies then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. A little distress inks around the edge of my embossed card and then heat embossed my image "HMKR1028 Food For Thought",
Of course you must use a House Mouse,Happy Hopper or Gruffie to join in.

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Hi all,
And welcome, it's a new month for Stamping Sensations and Penny black & More @ Allsorts challenges, if you didn't get the chance to join in last month's challenge this could be the one for you.

At Stamping Sensationsthis month the theme is "Wings And Things With A Touch Of Vintage" So get out anything with wings on and give it a vintage look. It's really not as scary as it sounds so why not give it a try. I made a note book for a change, used my Nitwit papers and used my favourite Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy to distress them. I find that Vintage Photo can be a little dark sometimes, added some lace and tickets with some sentiments on.

And now onto my second challenge creation for Penny black & More @ Allsorts, where the theme is "In The Garden" So you can use flower stamps, or anything to do with the garden for this challenge. I used this cute bear sat among the flowers, birds and bees.

We have prizes from Penny Black, Crafts U Love and Classy Crafts. Now isn't that a lot of prizes, definitely worth getting your animal stamps out isn't it!!!!!!

Now if you would like to be a GDT for us, all you need to do is make a creation to fit the theme following our rules.
Are you wanting some inspiration, pop on over to the challenge blog and then you can see all the wonderful creations from the rest of the talented team.

I'm A Design Team Member For

Follow by Email

Welcome

About Me

I have a lovely hubby John of 23 years and I'm a very happy Mum of three gorgeous children, Scott 22, Jodie 19 and Bobby 12. And four adorable pets too. I started crafting in 2008 and started my blog in 2009. I just love rubber stamping so much, and I love blogging because every time I log on i'm inspired by so many talented crafters. I am at present part of three lovely deisgn teams, Stamping Sensations,Penny Black @ Allsorts, and Allsorts. I feel very proud to be part of them and with so many very talented ladies too. I am also very proud of being runner up in the magazine Papercraft Essentials, Papercrafter Of The Year 2013.
Please stop by if you can.
Thanks,
hugs Tracy x